This undated handout provided by the Korean National Police Agency on November 21, 2018 shows Kim Jong-yang during the 87th Interpol General Assembly in Dubai. - Interpol announced on November 21 that Kim Jong-yang of South Korea had been chosen as its new president, beating a Russian official whose candidacy had unnerved Western nations. (Photo by handout / KOREAN NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / KOREAN NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTSHANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images

Russian candidate snubbed as Interpol presidency goes to South Korean

Interpol, the international criminal policing organisation, has elected South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang as its president, overlooking the controversial Russian frontrunner.

Mr Kim, 57, was chosen by representatives from Interpol’s 194 member states at the organisations’s annual congress in Dubai, beating Alexander Prokopchuk.

Mr Prokopchuk had been accused of using Interpol’s arrest warrant system to target critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin blamed Mr Prokopchuk’s defeat on ‘unprecedented pressure and interference’.

New Interpol president Kim Jong-yang (centre) during the 87th Interpol General Assembly in Dubai. Pic: KOREAN NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY/AFP/Getty

Moscow added that Mr Prokopchuk would continue to ‘focus on strengthening’ Interpol and ‘increasing the efficiency of the organisation’s work’ as one its four vice-presidents.

The election followed the disappearance of former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei in China in September. Chinese officials have since confirmed he has been detained and is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes.

Mr Kim is elevated to the top job from his position as senior vice-president of Interpol. He had been acting as president in Mr Meng’s absence and will serve out the remaining two years of his term.

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